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This it was which preserved Kutusof from total ruin at Borodino, and allowed him time to rally the remainder of his army, and withdraw it from our pursuit. On the 9th of September we found Mojaisk uncovered, and still standing: but beyond it the enemy's rear-guard on the heights which command it, and which their army had occupied the day before.
The generals were as confident as their chief in the success of our arms, but they thought that the loss of 20,000 men and a charge of 10,000 wounded would themselves constitute a check in presence of the Russian army, constantly recruited by new forces. A retreat to Mojaisk, and thence to Smolensk, was decided upon.
This mean habitation of an obscure artisan contained within it an Emperor, two Kings, and three Generals. Here they were about to decide the fate of Europe, and of the army which had conquered it. Smolensk was the goal. Should they march thither by Kalouga, Medyn or Mojaisk?
The emperor knew that behind this wood was the old Moscow road; that it turned round the left wing of the Russians, and passing behind their army, ran again into the new Moscow road in front of Mojaisk.
Here he covered the march of the army upon Kalouga and the retreat of our different convoys towards Mojaisk.
"When these orders are attended to, and the Kremlin is on fire in several places, the duke will leave the Kremlin, and advance on the Mojaisk road. At four o'clock, the officer of artillery appointed to that duty will blow up the Kremlin, according to instructions. "On the march he will burn all carriages left behind, use every endeavor to bury all the dead, and burn all the muskets he can find.
At the same time, Murat kept pushing the Russian rear-guard as far as Mojaisk: the road which it uncovered on its retreat was perfectly clear, and without a single fragment of men, carriages, or dress. All their dead had been buried, for they have a religious respect for the dead.
The abbey of Kolotskoi and the neighboring villages were converted into provisional hospitals, under the direction of General Junot, commandant of the Westphalians. The emperor had advanced towards Mojaisk, and Murat followed with his decimated regiments. Napoleon refused Davout the command of the advanced guard.
On reaching the Gallitzin palace, he will take the Spanish and Bavarians stationed there, and put fire to the ammunition wagons, and everything which cannot be removed. He will collect all the commanders of posts, and order the garrisons to fall back. "He will reach Mojaisk on the 25th or 26th, and there receive further orders to put himself in communication with the army.
Had not one hundred and fifty dragoons of his Old Guard been surprised and routed by a number of these barbarians? And this two days after the armistice, on the road to Mojaisk, on his line of operation, that by which the army communicated with its magazines, its reinforcements, and he himself with Europe?"
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